Fiji: Intelligence reports were withheld from Govt

Intelligence reports on the
activities of the days prior to 19 May were not given to the
government.

Earlier it was reported that the failure of
the Police Department to provide intelligence reports led
the Cabinet to summon the Commissioner of Police to a
cabinet meeting in late April. The Commissioner, Isikia
Savua, and his top officers, assured the cabinet that there
was no security threat to the nation, the people, or the
cabinet. (see also:
http://www.pcgov.org.fj/docs_c/savua_lrv_13dec.htm).

Yesterday the former Official Secretary at Government House,
Jo Browne stated that there was a conspiracy in the security
forces to conceal information and to remove the president
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

Browne says that the conspiracy
involved withdrawing military guards around the Government
House on the day he was `evacuated' from Government House to
a navy vessel.

Browne also states that intelligence
reports were deliberately withheld from the President. He is
quoted by the Fiji Times as saying that he was in constant
communication with the dissident groups from April 20 and
could sense increasing political and social tension. The Sun
reports Browne as saying that the security forces.

Browne
has also called for Savua to step aside. The Fiji Sun quotes
him as saying: "Mr. Savua should be the first person to step
aside and allow someone else to run the police force".

Browne also claims that people funded the dissidents: "At
first it started with people who were against Chaudhry and
gave financial and moral support. However, these people were
not expecting things to end up in a coup. That's why they
backed out when the cause took on a vanua face".

Browne
also claimed that some senior officers who were responsible
for the 19 may crisis are still in the military.

Yesterday the CRW soldiers charged with mutiny claimed that
some officers who are still in the military were responsible
for supplying arms to the terrorists.

Earlier the
military's Commander of the third battalion, Lt. Col.
Viliame Seruvakula stated that some senior officers in the
army were supporters of the terrorists.

END

Regime
defies Court Order; reappoints CRC

Issue No: 719 1 May
2001

The Qarase regime has again defied a High Court order
and convinced the President to reappoint the Constitution
Review Committee.

All the commissioners, except Fred
Achari who resigned and Apenisa Kurisiqila who passed away,
were reappointed through Presidential warrants on 10 April
and sworn in yesterday.

Earlier the High Court had
ordered all work relating to the CRC to be put to a stop and
the commissioners be stopped payments.

According to
sources, the re-appointments done in the insistence of the
Prime Minister's Office.

The terms of reference state
that the Commission is to review the 1997 Constitution and
provide a report to the President by 31 August.

The
decision is a clear indication that the regime continues to
have no respect for law and order. Earlier it had defied the
Fiji Court of Appeal ruling that Qarase regime was illegal,
and that the 1997 Constitution was still valid and the
Parliament still in place. The Qarase regime was reappointed
by the President.

Meanwhile, the NGO Coalition for Human
Rights has stated that the President Ratu Josefa Iloilo is
not fit to appropriately address the problems within the
judiciary because of his old age and poor health.

END

Police claim it has been investigating its Commissioner,
Rabuka

Issue No: 718 1 May 2001

The Police Department
claims that it has been investigating its own Commissioner,
Isikia Savua, and Sitiveni Rabuka.

Today's Fiji Sun
quotes the CID's Inspector Waisea Tabakau as
saying:

"Rabuka and the Commissioner were always on our
list of those being investigated by us for their involvement
in the May 19 coup. Rabuka is being questioned and we are
aware that his name came up in Close-Up again". But Tabakau
implied that the Public Service Commission inquiry into
Savua had cleared him and that seemed the put the matter to
rest.

Numerous hostages had reportedly given statements
to the Police in September last year saying that Rabuka and
Savua were the leaders of the terrorists.

In another
development, the former Secretary at Government House,
Joseph Browne claims that a CRW soldier now charged with
treason has videotapes of all political destabilisation
meetings that took place before 19 May. Her says that the
person will tender the tapes as evidence in the courts to
defend himself if there were no other alternative than a
mandatory life sentence for treason charges. Browne is
quoted by the Sun as saying: "Why are we attempting to crush
the small fishes when the sharks are allowed to roam
free?"

Meanwhile in a statement the military said: "The
RFMF is satisfied that recent statements in the media have
revitalised the investigative process into the events of May
19th. It is confidence that the truth will prevail and those
responsible will be brought to justice".

The military did
not comment on the claims that some senior officers who wer
ein league with the terrorists are still in the military.

END

Chiefs ask military to apologise to Mara

Issue
No: 716 1 May 2001

The Great Council of Chiefs has
reportedly asked the military to formally apologise to the
former President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara.

The call comes
after the revelations by Mara that he did not know the
reasons why he was removed from the Government House. The
revelations are contained in an interview played on Fiji
TV's Close-up program on Sunday. (see: transcript of the
interview at
http://www.pcgov.org.fj/docs_o/mara_interview_29april.htm)

Media reports that each of the 14 provinces will be
providing a tabua (whale's tooth) to the military for the
apology.

It is understood that the military commander
Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was not too pleased with the
decision, claiming that removing Mara was the only way in
which the military could impose martial law. The military's
decision came after the military council deliberated on the
matter. The military council, formed after the terrorists
struck, comprised Bainimarama, senior officers of the army,
and former army commanders (Rabuka, Nailatikau and Ganilau).
Earlier in a speech in Canberra, Rabuka stated that he
wanted the military council to appoint a government
comprising him, military officers, and some politicians.

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